Mary Allen
Anyone who wants to be successful in pigeon breeding should leave nothing to chance. Even if the weather is not right yet, you have to start planning now.
Probably every pigeon fancier knows the resolution that there will be fewer breeding pairs this year. Apparently, there are worlds between theory and practice. You can only get ahead with absolute consistency. And this not only affects the number of pairs but also applies to breeding success.
If you look at the potential breeding animals, then at first glance they are more or less equal. But only at first glance. If you go into the racial detail, you will find some significant differences. If you apply this to the young and set the standards high, only a few remain. And you should hardly incorporate more than one or two young animals per sex into the breeding. After all, pigeons can be used in breeding for several years without any problems. They are something like the guarantors of breeding. As an experienced breeder, you know only too well what to expect from them in their offspring.
Especially when breeding on a smaller scale, one should not make the mistake of only selecting on the basis of their appearance and integrating this into the breeding accordingly. The particularly beautiful young animals usually fall from very few breeding pairs. If you still proceed in this way, you can quickly get into a dead-end inbreeding. The consequences can be so serious that an entire breed collapses. Inbreeding depression with poor rearing symptoms and increased susceptibility can be the result.
Don’t Miss the Time Window
From the horse breeding Trakehnens – the original home of the world-famous Trakehner horses – comes a guiding principle that can also be applied to pigeon breeding: “Couples according to the exterior, but consider the ancestry.” If this advice is heeded, even a small population can be extremely successful in breeding for decades. Probably the most successful breed of white Brno pouters by the legendary Eugen Krampert never had more than five breeding pairs. A prerequisite for this to succeed in the long term is consistent stud bookkeeping. Especially now, when the temperatures do not yet suggest an active mating of the pigeons, it is necessary to do all the more preparatory work at the table.
If you then use the days to place the potential mating candidates next to each other in exhibition boxes, you have already achieved a lot. If the partners know each other in advance and if they are separated from each other again and again, it will be all the easier to pair them later.
So there is no question that even now when active breeding has not yet started, intensive care must be taken to prepare for breeding. If you miss this window of opportunity, don’t be surprised if things don’t go quite right when it matters. So let’s take advantage of the opportunities that this time offers.